Monthly Archives: November 2017

The New Zealand VR/AR Association will be hosting its first NZVRARA Student Chapter Exhibition at PROJECTR® Wellington on Wednesday 6th December 2017.

This showcase of work comes from a selection of the 44 student members who joined during 2017 and demonstrates the extensive breadth of work being undertaken by undergraduate and post-graduate students, primarily sourced from the Wellington region.

The NZVRARA Student Chapter was formed in mid-2017 and is driven by NZVRARA Executive Director, Courteney Lomas, who is also the Student Chapter President.

“Our student members primarily come from the two on-campus VR Clubs we’ve formed this year at Massey University (VRTX) and Victoria University (Looking Glass),” says Ms Lomas. “The concept of forming on-campus interdisciplinary clubs and supporting these students with NZVRARA Student Membership has worked extremely well and the NZVRARA is proud to support their work.”

Ms Lomas encourages commercial users and the industry’s creators of virtual and augmented reality solutions to take the necessary time to come and see what the students have been working on this year.

“These students are the future of our industry; our interns, graduate employees and a deep pool of ideas to fuel the growth of New Zealand’s VR/AR sector,” stated Ms Lomas.

“In 2018, we expect to bring in members from other New Zealand centres, particularly the Auckland institutions of AUT, Media Design School and Auckland University. We’re really excited about the idea of hosting a nationwide exhibit this time next year and are on track to have over 100 student members by the end of March 2018,” Ms Lomas stated.

Local VR company, Blackeye, has stepped up to cover the costs of this foundation event. Blackeye Managing Director, Michael Gregg is highly supportive of the exploratory work undertaken by the graduates.

“We’re delighted to step in and play our part to support our sector,” says Mr Gregg. “A recent survey identified an approaching VR/AR skills shortage, so it’s important we encourage undergraduate students from across disciplines to access these new immersive technologies and build strong capability with a range of cross reality applications,” said Mr Gregg.

The NZVRARA (The New Zealand VR/AR Association Inc.) will be presenting to the New Zealand advertising community this Thursday 16th November at the annual ad:tech exhibition, held at AUT’s City Campus in Auckland.

Presenting as part of the NZVRARA exhibit, using the latest in virtual and augmented reality are New Zealand companies: M-Theory, One Fat Sheep, Imersia and Polytronik.

Polytronik was sponsored by local VR/AR company, Blackeye VR, as the first recipient of their annual scholarship for New Zealand start-ups to exhibit immersive innovation derived from the cross reality space.

The term ‘cross reality’ (XR) is increasingly being used to refer to the virtual-to-reality continuum of immersive technologies including augmented and mixed reality.

Blackeye VR has provided Tony St George from Polytronik with exhibitor fees, flights and met his NZVRARA membership fees for the next year. Michael Gregg, Managing Director of Blackeye has offered the annual scholarship to help one NZVRARA member each year to market their work.

“We’re pleased to be able to play our part to expand awareness of the sector and celebrate the VR and AR work being done in New Zealand,” says Mr Gregg.

“Tony has been a stalwart of this sector in its formative years and is thoroughly deserving of this scholarship, given his commitment to the VR sector ever since the first Oculus Rift DK1 headsets arrived on the market.”

One Fat Sheep will be demonstrating the power of the PLATTAR augmented reality platform that they developed in 2015.

Sebastian Deans from Auckland-based One Fat Sheep will be showcasing “our world-beating AR platform along with some of the bespoke AR experiences that put us on the map and will keep us there in the future.”

“ad:tech brings a great opportunity to connect with savvy marketers who are interested in understanding the cross reality landscape further. ad:tech helps businesses to discover how AR and many other exciting marketing tools can be connected to drive truly great customer experiences” says Mr Deans.

Imersia are planning to showcase shared augmented reality. “This new technology has been shown to be a powerful influencer of behaviour using digital storytelling and gamification. We are excited to be leading the future of marketing and media” says Mr. Davies.

M-Theory is a spin out from successful digital production house, Method Studio and has already completed a number of commercial advertising campaigns for Unitec, Contact Energy, Torrens University, Panuku Development, NZ Post, Kumeu Film Studios, QMS and Ngati Whatua Orakei.

Brad Smith from M-Theory is excited about the potential of the advertising community to embrace these new technologies.

“We’re showing a mix of VR and AR experiences across brands and entertainment. VR and AR will be the future of advertising providing a more immersive and engaging experience for consumers and brands,” says Mr Smith.

Tony St George from Polytronik said, “we are very interested in communicating with agencies that need any AR/VR built. We will be showing a range of past projects that include a AR game that we developed for the Wellington Chocolate Factory”

NZVRARA Executive Director, Courteney Lomas believes adding immersive technologies to ad:tech demonstrates leadership by the event organisers and acknowledges the emerging role of VR and AR in advertising campaigns and marketing communications. “Having the NZVRARA as an active sector promoter, educating wider New Zealand markets on the value of cross reality technologies represents a fantastic opportunity for all of our members to grow and engage with new audiences.” says Ms Lomas.

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New Zealand VR/AR Association (NZVRARA)

The New Zealand VR/AR Association was incorporated in September 2016 to champion, support and grow innovation in virtual, mixed and augmented reality across New Zealand. Prospective members can join us here.